Child Vaccine Injury Lawyer
for VICP Claims

How a Vaccine Injury Lawyer Can Help With a Child’s Claim

Parents often contact us while their child is still seeing specialists, receiving therapy, or waiting for a clear diagnosis. You do not need to know whether the case is a Table claim or an off-Table claim before speaking with us. You also do not need a perfect set of records.

Our job is to find the legally important details:

• Which vaccine did your child receive?
• When did the first symptom begin?
• What did the earliest medical records say?
• Was your child hospitalized or treated surgically?
• Has the condition continued for more than six months?
• Is there a confirmed diagnosis?
• Are there other medical explanations that must be considered?
• Is the filing deadline approaching?

A VICP claim isn't a lawsuit against your child's pediatrician, clinic, pharmacy, or the vaccine manufacturer. The claim is directly and solely against HHS, and it's filed in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

Could Your Child Have a Vaccine Injury Claim?

A serious diagnosis after vaccination can be frightening. It can also be difficult to separate a medical question from a legal one.

The VICP does not compensate a child simply because symptoms started after a shot. The claim must involve a covered vaccine, meet the program's severity and filing requirements, and contain evidence supporting legal causation. Some claims receive a presumption through the Vaccine Injury Table. Others require medical evidence proving actual causation.

That sounds technical, but you do not need to sort it out before calling. We review the medical history, the first documented symptom, diagnostic testing, treatment, duration, and possible alternative causes. Then we explain what the records support and what information is still needed.

Conditions We May Review

Child vaccine injury claims can involve a wide range of medically documented conditions. Depending on the vaccine and the evidence, our lawyers may evaluate claims involving:

• Anaphylaxis
• Intussusception
• Immune thrombocytopenic purpura
• Encephalitis or encephalopathy
• Guillain-Barre syndrome
• Transverse myelitis
• Brachial neuritis
• Shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA)

This list is not complete. It also does not mean that every listed condition was caused by a vaccine. Each claim depends on the exact vaccine, medical history, onset, diagnosis, and evidence.

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How Long Do You Have to File?

For an injury claim, a VICP petition generally must be filed within three years after the first symptom or manifestation of onset or significant aggravation.

The deadline usually runs from the first symptom, not the day a doctor reaches the final diagnosis. That difference can be critical. Medical records may also describe an earlier symptom than the date a family remembers.

A death petition follows a separate two-part deadline. It generally must be filed within two years of the death and within four years of the first symptom or manifestation of onset or significant aggravation of the injury from which the death resulted.

Because these deadlines can be complicated and are strictly enforced, individuals who believe they may have a claim should seek legal advice as soon as possible.

What Child Vaccine Injury Compensation May Cover

When your child has a serious injury, the effects can reach far beyond the medical chart. School, independence, family routines, and long-term care can all change.

Depending on the law and the evidence, VICP compensation may include:

• Past and projected unreimbursable expenses for reasonably necessary medical care, rehabilitation, special education, counseling, equipment, travel, and related services
• Residential or custodial care and services when required
• Loss of earnings after age 18 when a child's injury meets the statutory conditions
• Actual and projected pain and suffering and emotional distress, capped by federal law at $250,000
• A $250,000 statutory death benefit for the estate when the program's requirements are met

Compensation is not based on a simple chart or an online average. The analysis may consider the child's diagnosis, functional limitations, prognosis, whether expenses are reimbursed by insurance or public programs, anticipated care, and supporting medical and economic evidence.

How Attorney Fees Work

Your initial case evaluation is free.

The VICP pays our attorney's fees directly, separate from your award, and by law we can't charge you any other fee.

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Table Claims and Off-Table Claims

What Is a Table Claim?

The Vaccine Injury Table connects certain covered vaccine categories with defined injuries and onset periods. If the vaccine, diagnosis, timing, and complete federal definition are satisfied, the law may presume causation unless another cause is shown.

Examples can include anaphylaxis after specified covered vaccines, intussusception after rotavirus vaccination, and thrombocytopenic purpura after specified measles-containing vaccines.

The listed time window is only one part of the test. The child must also meet the full definition in the Table's Qualifications and Aids to Interpretation.

What Is an Off-Table Claim?

A child may still have a claim when the diagnosis is not listed for that vaccine or when the Table's timing or definition is not satisfied.

An off-Table petitioner must prove actual causation. This commonly requires a reliable medical theory, a logical sequence of cause and effect, and an appropriate timing relationship, along with an analysis of other possible causes.

Table and off-Table are legal categories. They are not medical diagnoses. Our lawyers review the current Table and the complete record before deciding how a petition should be presented.

Child Vaccine Injury Case Experience

You can review our published vaccine injury case results to see how different diagnoses, records, and legal issues have been handled. A prior result does not predict the outcome or value of another case.

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